It’s old news by now that the Magazine of Good Living will publish its last issue in November. The stalwart that began its life in the most unlikely climate (the U.S. on the verge of entering WWII) buys the farm during a little old recession in 2010. But the reasons for its demise are more complicated than the economic climate, to be sure, and people are deconstructing it all over town (like Cook’s Illustrated editor Chris Kimball). But those hungering for Gourmet gestalt need not mourn a complete loss.  The magazine’s near-erstwhile editor, Ruth Reichl is hosting “Gourmet’s Adventures with Ruth” on PBS where she takes viewers around the world exploring food, farms, cooking techniques, etc. with a fortunate slate of celebrities.

A Gourmet survivor

Apparently all the kvetching about the Food Network having morphed into a reality-competition-glitz-fest was heard loud and clear by its parent company, Scripps. Either that or it’s just crystal clear that food and cooking are cash cows. Scripps has  announced that it will turn its Fine Living network into the Cooking Channel in 2010 so that it can appropriately move away from the high life and into the real life with honest to goodness cooking instruction – that which many say has been absent from the Food Network for some time. I can only imagine the confusion at the water cooler: “Wait, you saw it on the cooking channel or the food channel?”  But it’s probably a good thing, as Martha would say.

On “A Chef’s Table” today (WHYY FM 90.9), the topic was celebrity chefs. My interview was sandwiched in between “Top Chef’s” Tom Colicchio and one of the stars of Watching What We Eat, LaDeva Davis. LaDeva is as charming and entertaining (and velvety-voiced) today as she was on her PBS show “What’s Cooking?” in the mid-1970s. You can watch a clip from her egg show on the WHYY show page. Prepare to be smitten by both LaD and her retro kitchen set.

That 70s show!

If you’re in the Philadelphia listening area, “A Chef’s Table” on WHYY 90.9FM will be airing more of my interview with Chef Jim Coleman this Saturday, October 3, at noon.